Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Superman Family Adventures Canceled

The DC Comics solicits for April 2013 came out this week and I will review all the super-issues at some point soon. But one thing simply needed to be talked. One thing needed its own post.

SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES #12Written by ART BALTAZAR and FRANCOArt and cover by ART BALTAZAROn sale APRIL 24 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E • FINAL ISSUE• Because you demanded it! The return of the lunch lady! Er, we mean, the
return of DARKSEID!• Has he returned for good—or evil? Is he going to make us pancakes?• When the Super Family leaps into action, will they be trapped in Apokolips?!

That's right. Superman Family Adventures has been canceled.

There was a lot of other nonsense as well.

Several creative teams were pulled off books before their first issues coming out. Apparently they got the creators got the news via Previews solicits. That is horrible. This after the PR disaster of emailing Gail Simone about her firing only to rehire her.

Now these creative upheavals seem stupid. Someone thought the pitches by Jim Zubkavich and robert Venditti were worth doing. PR was released! And yet, that opinion changed? Remember Brian Wood being announced on Supergirl and then that disappearing. Whoever is at the top doesn't seem to have a clue. And with all this nonsense, who would ever ever want to work for this company right now? If I was a creator I would stay away ... and I love DC's universe.

Enmeshed in all this creator disasters was the cancellation of Superman Family Adventures. And I guess my big question for DC is why? Whether comics wants to realize it or not, there needs to be new readers. This book was beloved by its audience and was often called 'the best Superman book' on the market. It sold just shy of 7500 issues last month, 900 more than media-darling, multi-covered (and just as fun) My Little Pony.

I am sure that the All Ages books sales are of minimal importance in DC's big picture. But my kids loved Superman Family. It made them learn about these characters. It made them want to read more Superman books. They looked forward to it monthly. With the cancellation of Young Justice and Superman Family Adventures, the only DC Universe kids book being produced is the Animated GL book. There is no path to this universe for them to be on anymore.

What makes it sting even more is that this was, in many ways, the best Superman book because it actually seemed to understand what Superman is all about.

In SFA, Superman is a hero. The public is inspired by him. He is a mentor to his family. He strives to do what's right. He gets weak in the knees around Lois.

In the mainstream books, Superman is aloof, a loner, someone who doesn't want to mentor. Someone who spies on Lois. In Earth One, he gives rifles to revolutionaries. He feels alone. Frankly, Superman doesn't feel like Superman in those books.

The bottom line is this. It is hard, when you see all this stuff, to be a fan of DC Comics the company. And the quality of the books isn't great enough to look past it to love DC Comics the universe.

And now, for super-hero fare for my children who love comics and the medium, I have to cross the aisle to Marvels All-Ages books.

Is there proof these upcoming writers were let go via the solicits? Because if so that is certainly a staggeringly unprofessional way to do business, but at the same time this is the internet, accusations like this don't usually go through extensive fact-checking before coming out. No matter what the situation is though I feel bad these guys missed their chance this time. Hopefully better luck for them ahead.

I never read Superman Family Adventures, I'm quite enjoying the main line Superman, to be quite honest. I'm just not feeling the massive difference in him since the reboot that others are. He's a little more rough around the edges sure, but I haven't found it to be staggeringly so. But that's me.

You just can't trust DC Comics, not with the Supergirl character as far as I can see...that is my main takeaway from this news item.DC Editorial seems to think they can derive some unimaginable revenue stream from Kara Zor El by jobbing her out in cross over events, driving her solo book into silver age Incredible Hulk territory and thumbing their collective noses as the "Supergirl fan base".It is a great short term strategy but I pity the poor writer/editor combo that has rebuild out of the inevitable rubble & fallout.

Just wanted to add an addendum to my post yesterday that, while I didn't read SFA, as its just not my cup of tea personally, I do think the all-ages books are an asset, ESPECIALLY for the really young. So I'm not really on board with its cancellation either despite not being a reader.